A known step device for a vehicle is disclosed in JP2011-105263A (hereinafter referred to as Patent reference 1). As illustrated in FIG. 7, a step device 90 for vehicle includes a step member 91 made from a resin member, and a drive member 96 provided at a bottom portion of the step member 91. The step member 91 integrally includes a step panel 92 formed in a substantially flat plate shape and a guide rail 93 formed in a substantially U-shape extending downward from a bottom surface of the step panel 92.
The step panel 92 is extended in a substantially horizontal manner in a state mounted on a vehicle to serves as a foot step for a passenger who ingresses and egresses a door opening. On the other hand, a guide rail 93, which is for guiding a movement of a slide door to open and close the door opening, extends basically in a front-rear direction of the vehicle. The drive member 96 is positioned inward in a vehicle width direction relative to the guide rail 93. The drive member 96 is linked to the slide door to electrically drive the slide door (drive the opening and closing of the slide door).
According to the known construction, the number of parts and weight can be reduced compared to a step member which is, for example, obtained by joining a step panel and a guide rail which are made of metal, for example, by welding.
A process for assembling in a well-fitting manner of the slide door at a vehicle manufacturer, generally, is conducted after the slide door is welded to a metal plate prior to a coating process (from electrodeposition coating to finish coating). That is, at the vehicle manufacturer, a slide door is mounted to a vehicle body which is in a metal plate state, the coating is applied to the slide door and the vehicle body, and the coated slide door and the vehicle body are baked in a drying furnace which is at the temperature around 200 degrees Celsius. Thus, according to Patent reference 1, for the purpose of assembling the slide door in a well-fitting manner prior to the coating process, it is necessary that the step device 90 for vehicle is mounted on the vehicle body. However, because the step member 91 is made of resin which does not resist the high temperature heat in the drying furnace and because the drive member 96 (e.g., electric motor) is mounted, a specialized part, which is for assembling the slide door in a well-fitting manner, that resists the high temperature heat in the drying furnace is mounted on the vehicle body at this stage. Then, after the completion of the coating process, the specialized part is removed to be replaced by the step device 90 for vehicle.
Accordingly, the man-hours, or operation time increases by the time for replacing the specialized part by the step device 90. Particularly, despite assembling the slide door in a well-fitting manner with a predetermined accuracy using the specialized part in the process for assembling the slide door in a well-fitting manner, because the specialized part, which is the premise, or base of the accuracy, is replaced by the step device 90 for vehicle, the fine adjustment to satisfy the predetermined accuracy of the assembling in the well-fitting manner needs to be redone, which further increases the man-hours, or operation time.
A need thus exists for a step device for a vehicle which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.